Sitting in airport lounge bar with black AMEX on display, leafing through important articles in The Economist and Monocle, like the absolute shit that I am
Next up will be the Sicily leg of my Italian travelogue, followed by my piece on National Populism, to conclude the series on "My Political Journey". Just bear with me until I can crank these out properly.
I've been to Paris, but nowhere near as often and as long as other places in Europe. I'm sure that others here can give you better tips on it than I can.
Paris is a city made for walking. So just wander. Go through the 6th arondissement, take the baton Mouche so that you can see the city from the river. Then cross over and walk through the Jardin de Luxembourg. Go up to Montmartre (which is the oldest part of the city). Visit a few of the galleries, notably the Louvre & Musee d'Orsay (French impressionist gallery) and the Pompidou Centre (where you should grab a drink at Georges, the bar at the top to get another great view of the city). I'm keeping this relatively short if you're only going to be there for a weekend.
The Economist's coverage of American politics was so boneheaded that I gave up on it decades ago. Currently reading the abridged, English translation of Chateaubriand's Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb. I wish I could read French. The old reactionaries had style, and had good taste, and they could handle adversity, and they were well read. We can at least emulate these things.
The Canadian government's idea to just let banks silence the protestors for them is a perfect example of a The Economist reader way of thinking. I have seen many examples of people arguing that since the government is merely letting the banks ruin people's lives rather than doing it directly themselves it doesn't constitute tyranny. How can people who can't stomach a bloody action scene in a movie be so callous towards peoples lives?
Do you at all follow John Robb and his Global Guerrillas blog Niccolo Soldo?
He's been on the subcontracting of tyranny and 'networked tyranny' for years.
He had a recent [paywall] piece on The Virtualization of the Middle Class, COVID and lockdowns are the vehicle for same. Less traffic, more Green, less Carbon, less office space needed, more room for urbanites to frolic and play ....unless they piss off their truckers or other servants of course.
Will any banks refuse to participate in the debanking of dissidents? What would happen to a bank that refuses to debank people? I suppose the government said it would reward banks for participating in "good faith" debanking, so does that mean banks who do not participate are operating in "bad faith" and will be targeted for harassment by the government?
Will Canadians withdraw their banking services from banks participating in debanking? Where will they go? What percentage of Canadians would need to Exit before these policies are adjusted? Can the global economy still profit off of people who are debanked?
I think most of the answers to these questions are somewhat bleak, but I also don't know that things will actually get better after they get inevitably get much worse.
Will the Trucker protests still be going on March 1st (Mardi Gras)? I don't think they will, but then, I never would have suspected Canadians of all people to be the ones to rise up against their own government.
They possibly don't mind the bloody action scene in a movie if it's the correct people dishing it out to the deserving people, perhaps. Which maybe reflects their real life views.
Crypto bulls were screaming to the high heavens that the Super Bowl commercials would result in a big bump for crypto. There was no movement on Sunday. Deputy PM Freeland starts talking about regulation of cryptocurrency in Canada on Monday and there’s a approximately 5% bump. After the hangover Super Bowl effect or Emergencies Act in Canada?
Feb 15, 2022·edited Feb 15, 2022Liked by Niccolo Soldo
Re: Ukraine,
Russian General announces troop withdrawals. No such thing has been observed so far.
In fact units are still being pushed to the border areas, especially from Kursk and Belgorod.
If they invade however, we would expect a strong pretext. No specific pretext has emerged so far, but things are picking up in Donbass.
We know the US is full of shit, but it's hard to understand why they would want to open up a big front in Europe while refocusing to the Pacific. They are not lying about Russian military posture this time though.
Edit:
"German officials tell that Chancellor Scholz did NOT tell Putin that Germany would formalize Ukraine’s non membership in NATO as a way of averting war."
This would be a significant concession, but apparently not on the table as previously reported.
The sanctions package that the USA has in mind to hit Russia is an overwhelming one, which would effectively cut them off from Europe financially. Europe would pay the bill and would be forced to seek even greater support from the USA, thus further entrenching US dominance on the continent. This then gives them a free hand in Asia.
I suppose there's some logic that could be found there. I don't believe they are that nuts.
From Russia's perspective though, it does make sense to act now rather than later. Ukraine keeps arming itself more and more and the cost of a future intervention keeps rising. They might have decided that they rather take the sanctions hit and neutralize Ukraine now.
Didn't consider that. I thought they a) hate Putler because the Orthodox church has undergone a revival under him, rainbow flags don't flutter around Moscow, mascultinty is praised rather than demonized, etc. and b) don't think he's going to invade and, when the "invasion threat" eventually peters out, want to hype up his refusal to roll into Kiev as a win (The Conservative Treehouse published a good piece on that today).
By getting him to "back down," they can deliver a "win" over one of the few non-Globo Homo leaders after the Afghanistan fiasco and the rise in popularity of Zemmour/Orban types.
But the entrenching US dominance by provoking him into doing something that justifies a massive sanctions package would make sense too. My only doubt on that would be: why allow the Nordstream II pipeline if you're waiting to completely cut off Russia?
Remain extremely skeptical that Russia has amassed more than half of it's total combat strength to just pull out with no substantial gains, handing the west a huge diplomatic victory.
Remember this is just a continuation of the build up that already started last spring. Russia took this particular initiative, not the West.
Feb 15, 2022·edited Feb 15, 2022Liked by Niccolo Soldo
(which airport lounge is that?). As far as Ukraine goes, I think the pressure remains until there is a written agreement between Moscow, WASHINGTON and NATO that is signed by POTUS that stipulates Ukraine will never become a NATO member. The other possibility is that Ukraine "unilaterally" makes a declaration that it has no interest in becoming a member of NATO (esp now that the US has stated that it has no plans to shed even one American drop of blood to protect Ukraine's sovereignty).
More immediately, what if Putins signs legislation from the Duma recognising the independence of Luhansk and Donetsk from Ukraine? If Ukraine responds by attacking the breakaway region, Putin will intervene. However, if Zelensky does nothing or simply condemns the action, but refrains from the use of force Putin will not intervene because he will have already dismembered the country and created his buffer zone.
I think that the Duma's call to annex Luhansk and Donetsk allows Putin the ability to show that he is the 'sane, level head' by allowing him to reject it, thus providing a 'concession'.
I dont think there will be a large scale invasion of the ukraine. Tbh i dont know much of all the intricate details of mobilisation, number of troops and all that jazz, but russia has not post 1991 made any intervention like the one people seem to be expecting. Chechenya was a recognised part of russia, georgia had their secessionist republics, donbass and crimea are ethnic russian territories. In Ukraine they would unilaterally invade a (mostly) hostile nation and advance into territories not embroiled in any conflict or secession. If it would happen it would be a paradigm shift but i think it wont.
As for Canada i think it is a bit naive to think liberal democracy has gone mask off and revealed itself. Belgium went to court and literally instituted a federal ban of their nationalist party in the early 2000s (which was the largest polling party at the time). Who even remembers this? Germany is constantly threating the AFD with the prospect of designating them an extremist organisation. Which effectively means they like the NPD can be surveilled with basically no regards to their integrity, ban them from a wide array of jobs and entrap them into crimes in a way that would be completly illegal if it were to apply ordinary criminals. Germany still ranks high on the fabled democracy index and is regarded by most normal europeans and americans as a so called free country
There is really no way to hide such a large mobilization in the age of cellphone cameras and commercial satellites.
They've moved some units at night, but looks like they're just not bothering trying to stop people from filming. It's too much equipment and it would be a massive hassle.
My sense is Trudeau was chastened by his handlers, based on his conduct on Monday when announcing his Emergency Act measures. This is a common theme with Trudeau: he shoots his mouth off, gets in hot water, then one of his handlers cracks the whip, and gets him back in line. Notice how he made very few accusations or derogatory comments towards anyone in the well scripted announcement yesterday. What a change from the past few weeks. A friend who worked in Ottawa when Trudeau was just another MP tells me he is petty and vindictive, and so he may wait until the fall Parliament session to enact some very punitive laws out of spite.
The protesters in Ottawa are probably going to wrap things up, or have them wrapped up for them by the local police/OPP. I find it funny that of all the protests that are still running, it's the Ottawa one that appears to have received the least law enforcement attention. Perhaps the Canadian regime finds them useful in some way, or simply does not care about Ottawagonians.
The big consequence for Canada is that our regime is now seen (or confirmed) as weak. The injunction which seemed to trigger the removal of the blockages in Windsor was not applied for by a government (who attended the hearing as intervenors). When you've let private companies enforce peace and order, you signaled you're maybe not so sovereign within your own borders.
Yeah. I suspect he is not getting paid enough to get whiplash from dealing with all the various authorities involved. My spidey sense also says "scapegoat".
Your regime was just quietly Anschluss'd by Ford Motor Company who directed the clearing of the Windsor side of the Ambassador Bridge and Biden telling Trudeau to crack down.
Welcome to America. We don't do laws, Constitutions, elections, Bail or Court Hearings...they're an attack on Our Democracy.
RE: Ukraine - because every major player appears to believe war is inevitable or at the very least likely enough to warrant TREATING it as inevitable, Ukraine gets to see first-hand what sort of friends it has made in the West and how they would react if war were to actually break out. I don't think even Zelensky is dumb enough not to see that they are about to be sacrificed.
What are the chances that someone with enough power in Ukraine might be considering at this point that it would be better to just be friends with Russia than to deal with the US? Is that even possible? And if a decision like that were to be made without any bloodshed or counter-revolution, how would the US react?
The only reason I even mention such a fantasy is because that's the only way I see Russia winning. War is not in their interest and they are not a country that usually telegraphs their invasion plans months ahead, allowing everyone time to prepare, so I can only conclude that something else is in the works, but my imagination is not as good as Putin's.
Azov Battalion is a wild story. These are legit Ukrainian and European fascists, including those that can be described as Nazis. They were originally a paramilitary unit but were eventually incorporated into the Ukrainian Army during the war several years ago. They saw a lot of action in Donbass in particular.
I have no idea what the officer class' long game is, and it's rather obvious that the USA will dump them once and if they can achieve their goals in Ukraine.
I learn so much from this blog. I dropped the “Did you know we basically invited Saddam to invade Kuwait?” truth bomb the other day and it blew my interlocutors’ minds.
The long game is "not to be dependant on Russia's moods and wants" with secondaries being the same but for the EU, US and so on.
Long and rambling on tangents every which way:
Westerner's analyses of nations outside the franco-british-german axis or the US cultural sphere (dare we call it US cultural imperalism or is that too much 1970s nostalgia?) always make same mistake:
Analysis is cosmopolitan, no borders, free trade (haha) and free travel and all of the post modern, poststructuralist relativist nonsense wrapped up in the "end of history"-hypothesis (ignoring that the originator of said hypothesis years ago stated he was completely wrong).
The rest of the world still operates on realpolitik. And the west having convinced itself that nationalism, sovereignity, and democracy is evil (yes really, look at how popular power has been transferred away from national parliaments to non-democratic organisations since the eighties) is bewildered again and again when saudi moslems execute homosexuals or african tribes murder eachother over centuries old racial vendettas, or that the current emperor and mandarins of China does what they've always done.
But to capitalism, ethnicity, nationalism, faith and creed and even family are either commodities to be exploited or obstacles to be removed. Just how communism and fascism sees it really: nothing above the state, nothing beyond the state. Just replace state with corporation.
Leaving militarised ethno-nationalism and religion as the only way a people might try and wrest power back.
I think Canada is about to get dark. Way I see it the truckers have been targeted as a prime candidate for Leaf Jan 6 by the powers that be. I expect more police brutality and a slew of illegal detentions and partisan lawfare. It won't be pretty, but the Canadian public reads as complacent enough to allow it.
As for Ukraine, at this point I don't find a full invasion likely. Much cheaper to let the US and Ukraine get egg on their face via inaction, maybe scare the Ukes enough to sign something preventing NATO entry. Putin has time, he's not going anywhere and his position gets more advantagous over time in many ways.
My take on the Ukraine nonsense is that it was a way for the state dept to remind the public why NATO is important. Trump spent 4 years questioning why NATO exists without a Soviet Union, and he was right because nobody had an answer. What happened? Now they have an answer. Like all other bureaucracies, manufacture a crisis to demonstrate the necessity for crisis managers. It really is the MAFIA policy of extortion racketeering.
Odessa is a sleazy port town; Ukrainian version of Marseilles. Very clement climate though, and it has a lot of potential. To give an idea, the airbnb me and my pals were staying in was obviously a former whorehouse, and my semi-famous tech bro friends were regularly assaulted by families of roaming gypsies.
Crimea, at least the southern coast from Sevastopol to Feodosia is absolutely glorious (Simferopol is kind of a dump other than a Skythian tower near the train station). Ancient Greek ruins, Genoan castles, abandoned (probably now occupied) submarine bases, checkpoints from where it was all closed cities, amazing food, mountain monasteries, hilarious Soviet era Yalta propaganda, nice people, good food. It was obviously Russian even back in 2010 when I went; all the people hated the Ukraine government and got mad at me when I'd use a couple of Ukranian niceties.
We will have to see what happens with litigation and if the emergency nonsense holds up in parliament regarding the funding. The GiveSendGo funds may make it after all. I don't have a lot of faith in the courts, but I have a very limited understanding of them. The convoy people are already planning on litigating though.
I have major doubts the emergency powers will be supported in parliament, but I also don't know the parties well enough.
The border blockings aren't affiliated with the Ottawa convoy, so under scrutiny, they might not get away with seizing the convoy's money. The convoy people are waiting to figure out what will happen to that. The convoy is a registered nonprofit and they coordinated everything in advance. They actually only expected a few hundred trucks but it just grew.
Can't keep doing border blockades though. Gotta focus on Ottawa and keeping it peaceful.
One big issue is how many people support unpersoning them, but given the concessions the politicians have made thus far, I don't think anyone out there cares what the general public thinks. They see that they're getting some representation and having a few small victories. Public opinion is getting more favorable to ending mandates and parliament is responding, that's important.
I think they know they can't arrest or clear out people without severe backlash, I don't think they can even get away with it. If they do anything harsh especially with police there will be more protest. Also, there will be legal backlash if they crack heads and mass arrest. The police forces are in support of the protest from the looks of it, the chief who just resigned was the one trying to take them down. That's why they're doing the bank thing.
I think more people will go to Ottawa no matter what, and there will be more frequent and more populated protests all over until who knows. There are people still waiting to arrive right now who got blocked in Quebec and elsewhere. I'm in Alberta and started going to the rallies after this. Big morale boost. If they get too harsh, reason to protest. If they lose their emergency powers, reason to keep pushing. Here, the key is going and going and going until the premier fully scraps.
Brian Peckford's lawsuit will get a lot more coverage and affect the court of public opinion. The timing of all of this is beneficial. I'm keeping an eye on that. It will be another important moment like this emergency one. If the lawsuit goes well, that will force the mandates out, but also give politicians an excuse to pivot and pretend they cared.
As an expat Canadian for cause, the Freedom Rally has been a rollercoaster of pride and tears and hot hopes. Thought I was over That Place. Patently , I'm not.
Love would have it so.
As a sane person , I must say that Canadians are ever thirsty for centralized
Hivemind direction. That's an eternal truth.
It is Canadians, not sockboy , who is/are Canadas biggest problem
I used to think Canada was our sensible neighbor. It's very disturbing to hear what Trudeau is doing to stop dissent. As I said in another Substack comment section, I have a friend who drove to Ottawa and took videos. It all looked peaceful. No burning, looting or assaults. I'm not buying that these people protesting are terrorists. Windsor bowed down to Michigan, letting politicians in the states tell Canada what to do. The very people who despise the police suddenly want the police to do their dirty work.
Ukraine and Russia: I think the US should stay out of it. I'm sick of wars. The next war we have, every politician who wanted it should be required to send all of their adult children to fight it.
I saw a funny meme with a Venn diagram regarding calls for the Canadian military to get rid of the truckers and how the truckers were the ones most likely to have signed up for the military. Same stupidity here with the States, all sorts of venom for anybody who is conservative, yet those are the ones typically being sent to fight wars.
Next up will be the Sicily leg of my Italian travelogue, followed by my piece on National Populism, to conclude the series on "My Political Journey". Just bear with me until I can crank these out properly.
Ever been to Paris? I'm going there for a weekend soon and wanna know some good things to see/places to go.
I've been to Paris, but nowhere near as often and as long as other places in Europe. I'm sure that others here can give you better tips on it than I can.
Paris is a city made for walking. So just wander. Go through the 6th arondissement, take the baton Mouche so that you can see the city from the river. Then cross over and walk through the Jardin de Luxembourg. Go up to Montmartre (which is the oldest part of the city). Visit a few of the galleries, notably the Louvre & Musee d'Orsay (French impressionist gallery) and the Pompidou Centre (where you should grab a drink at Georges, the bar at the top to get another great view of the city). I'm keeping this relatively short if you're only going to be there for a weekend.
Ukraine is Billion Dollar Brain, without Alexander Nevsky Ending.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billion_Dollar_Brain
The Economist's coverage of American politics was so boneheaded that I gave up on it decades ago. Currently reading the abridged, English translation of Chateaubriand's Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb. I wish I could read French. The old reactionaries had style, and had good taste, and they could handle adversity, and they were well read. We can at least emulate these things.
The Canadian government's idea to just let banks silence the protestors for them is a perfect example of a The Economist reader way of thinking. I have seen many examples of people arguing that since the government is merely letting the banks ruin people's lives rather than doing it directly themselves it doesn't constitute tyranny. How can people who can't stomach a bloody action scene in a movie be so callous towards peoples lives?
Not to mention progressives, who do feel an actual bloodthirst.
Subcontracting tyranny to the private sector. Much like how USGov allows its tech sector to shut down voices.
Do you at all follow John Robb and his Global Guerrillas blog Niccolo Soldo?
He's been on the subcontracting of tyranny and 'networked tyranny' for years.
He had a recent [paywall] piece on The Virtualization of the Middle Class, COVID and lockdowns are the vehicle for same. Less traffic, more Green, less Carbon, less office space needed, more room for urbanites to frolic and play ....unless they piss off their truckers or other servants of course.
Will any banks refuse to participate in the debanking of dissidents? What would happen to a bank that refuses to debank people? I suppose the government said it would reward banks for participating in "good faith" debanking, so does that mean banks who do not participate are operating in "bad faith" and will be targeted for harassment by the government?
Will Canadians withdraw their banking services from banks participating in debanking? Where will they go? What percentage of Canadians would need to Exit before these policies are adjusted? Can the global economy still profit off of people who are debanked?
I think most of the answers to these questions are somewhat bleak, but I also don't know that things will actually get better after they get inevitably get much worse.
Will the Trucker protests still be going on March 1st (Mardi Gras)? I don't think they will, but then, I never would have suspected Canadians of all people to be the ones to rise up against their own government.
They possibly don't mind the bloody action scene in a movie if it's the correct people dishing it out to the deserving people, perhaps. Which maybe reflects their real life views.
Crypto bulls were screaming to the high heavens that the Super Bowl commercials would result in a big bump for crypto. There was no movement on Sunday. Deputy PM Freeland starts talking about regulation of cryptocurrency in Canada on Monday and there’s a approximately 5% bump. After the hangover Super Bowl effect or Emergencies Act in Canada?
Re: Ukraine,
Russian General announces troop withdrawals. No such thing has been observed so far.
In fact units are still being pushed to the border areas, especially from Kursk and Belgorod.
If they invade however, we would expect a strong pretext. No specific pretext has emerged so far, but things are picking up in Donbass.
We know the US is full of shit, but it's hard to understand why they would want to open up a big front in Europe while refocusing to the Pacific. They are not lying about Russian military posture this time though.
Edit:
"German officials tell that Chancellor Scholz did NOT tell Putin that Germany would formalize Ukraine’s non membership in NATO as a way of averting war."
This would be a significant concession, but apparently not on the table as previously reported.
The sanctions package that the USA has in mind to hit Russia is an overwhelming one, which would effectively cut them off from Europe financially. Europe would pay the bill and would be forced to seek even greater support from the USA, thus further entrenching US dominance on the continent. This then gives them a free hand in Asia.
Ukraine itself is expendable in this equation.
I suppose there's some logic that could be found there. I don't believe they are that nuts.
From Russia's perspective though, it does make sense to act now rather than later. Ukraine keeps arming itself more and more and the cost of a future intervention keeps rising. They might have decided that they rather take the sanctions hit and neutralize Ukraine now.
Didn't consider that. I thought they a) hate Putler because the Orthodox church has undergone a revival under him, rainbow flags don't flutter around Moscow, mascultinty is praised rather than demonized, etc. and b) don't think he's going to invade and, when the "invasion threat" eventually peters out, want to hype up his refusal to roll into Kiev as a win (The Conservative Treehouse published a good piece on that today).
By getting him to "back down," they can deliver a "win" over one of the few non-Globo Homo leaders after the Afghanistan fiasco and the rise in popularity of Zemmour/Orban types.
But the entrenching US dominance by provoking him into doing something that justifies a massive sanctions package would make sense too. My only doubt on that would be: why allow the Nordstream II pipeline if you're waiting to completely cut off Russia?
Remain extremely skeptical that Russia has amassed more than half of it's total combat strength to just pull out with no substantial gains, handing the west a huge diplomatic victory.
Remember this is just a continuation of the build up that already started last spring. Russia took this particular initiative, not the West.
(which airport lounge is that?). As far as Ukraine goes, I think the pressure remains until there is a written agreement between Moscow, WASHINGTON and NATO that is signed by POTUS that stipulates Ukraine will never become a NATO member. The other possibility is that Ukraine "unilaterally" makes a declaration that it has no interest in becoming a member of NATO (esp now that the US has stated that it has no plans to shed even one American drop of blood to protect Ukraine's sovereignty).
More immediately, what if Putins signs legislation from the Duma recognising the independence of Luhansk and Donetsk from Ukraine? If Ukraine responds by attacking the breakaway region, Putin will intervene. However, if Zelensky does nothing or simply condemns the action, but refrains from the use of force Putin will not intervene because he will have already dismembered the country and created his buffer zone.
"(which airport lounge is that?)"
Nice try, MI6.
I think that the Duma's call to annex Luhansk and Donetsk allows Putin the ability to show that he is the 'sane, level head' by allowing him to reject it, thus providing a 'concession'.
I dont think there will be a large scale invasion of the ukraine. Tbh i dont know much of all the intricate details of mobilisation, number of troops and all that jazz, but russia has not post 1991 made any intervention like the one people seem to be expecting. Chechenya was a recognised part of russia, georgia had their secessionist republics, donbass and crimea are ethnic russian territories. In Ukraine they would unilaterally invade a (mostly) hostile nation and advance into territories not embroiled in any conflict or secession. If it would happen it would be a paradigm shift but i think it wont.
As for Canada i think it is a bit naive to think liberal democracy has gone mask off and revealed itself. Belgium went to court and literally instituted a federal ban of their nationalist party in the early 2000s (which was the largest polling party at the time). Who even remembers this? Germany is constantly threating the AFD with the prospect of designating them an extremist organisation. Which effectively means they like the NPD can be surveilled with basically no regards to their integrity, ban them from a wide array of jobs and entrap them into crimes in a way that would be completly illegal if it were to apply ordinary criminals. Germany still ranks high on the fabled democracy index and is regarded by most normal europeans and americans as a so called free country
/Neetdrangheta99
Buongiorno! Come stai?
This speaks to the growing use of illiberalism to defend liberalism as it becomes increasingly illiberal. This is a paradox.
it is but im optimistic that liberals will find a way to rationalise this contradiction
There is really no way to hide such a large mobilization in the age of cellphone cameras and commercial satellites.
They've moved some units at night, but looks like they're just not bothering trying to stop people from filming. It's too much equipment and it would be a massive hassle.
Canadian’s are learning as the Americans did the utter and costly futility of protests.
Crowds and size irrelevant.
Protesting has probably less effect than Cancellation.
Its futility at negative ROI.
Would it were not so.
Some western Canadian thoughts about Canada and the truckers from early Monday: https://onesubjectnotebook.wordpress.com/2022/02/14/off-the-cuff-observations-on-a-trucker-convoy/
My sense is Trudeau was chastened by his handlers, based on his conduct on Monday when announcing his Emergency Act measures. This is a common theme with Trudeau: he shoots his mouth off, gets in hot water, then one of his handlers cracks the whip, and gets him back in line. Notice how he made very few accusations or derogatory comments towards anyone in the well scripted announcement yesterday. What a change from the past few weeks. A friend who worked in Ottawa when Trudeau was just another MP tells me he is petty and vindictive, and so he may wait until the fall Parliament session to enact some very punitive laws out of spite.
The protesters in Ottawa are probably going to wrap things up, or have them wrapped up for them by the local police/OPP. I find it funny that of all the protests that are still running, it's the Ottawa one that appears to have received the least law enforcement attention. Perhaps the Canadian regime finds them useful in some way, or simply does not care about Ottawagonians.
The big consequence for Canada is that our regime is now seen (or confirmed) as weak. The injunction which seemed to trigger the removal of the blockages in Windsor was not applied for by a government (who attended the hearing as intervenors). When you've let private companies enforce peace and order, you signaled you're maybe not so sovereign within your own borders.
Ottawa Police Chief stepped down.
Yeah. I suspect he is not getting paid enough to get whiplash from dealing with all the various authorities involved. My spidey sense also says "scapegoat".
Or else he does not want to be involved in what's coming.
Uh,
Oh...Canada? We need to talk.
Your regime was just quietly Anschluss'd by Ford Motor Company who directed the clearing of the Windsor side of the Ambassador Bridge and Biden telling Trudeau to crack down.
Welcome to America. We don't do laws, Constitutions, elections, Bail or Court Hearings...they're an attack on Our Democracy.
RE: Ukraine - because every major player appears to believe war is inevitable or at the very least likely enough to warrant TREATING it as inevitable, Ukraine gets to see first-hand what sort of friends it has made in the West and how they would react if war were to actually break out. I don't think even Zelensky is dumb enough not to see that they are about to be sacrificed.
What are the chances that someone with enough power in Ukraine might be considering at this point that it would be better to just be friends with Russia than to deal with the US? Is that even possible? And if a decision like that were to be made without any bloodshed or counter-revolution, how would the US react?
The only reason I even mention such a fantasy is because that's the only way I see Russia winning. War is not in their interest and they are not a country that usually telegraphs their invasion plans months ahead, allowing everyone time to prepare, so I can only conclude that something else is in the works, but my imagination is not as good as Putin's.
Do you have any insight into the “Ukraine has a lot of neo-Nazis” claim?
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-nazis-globalist-liberals-prefer-to-ignore/
Azov Battalion is a wild story. These are legit Ukrainian and European fascists, including those that can be described as Nazis. They were originally a paramilitary unit but were eventually incorporated into the Ukrainian Army during the war several years ago. They saw a lot of action in Donbass in particular.
The twist? They are financed by Igor Kolomoisky, billionaire Jewish oligarch and President Zelensky's biggest backer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ihor_Kolomoyskyi
I have no idea what the officer class' long game is, and it's rather obvious that the USA will dump them once and if they can achieve their goals in Ukraine.
I learn so much from this blog. I dropped the “Did you know we basically invited Saddam to invade Kuwait?” truth bomb the other day and it blew my interlocutors’ minds.
Practicing medicine in Canada many years ago, one encounters SS blood groups tattooed on inner left arms. Slavic immigrants . Not sorry one bit.
And camp survivors with camp numbers tattooed, always sad. Never joyful. It's a puzzle.
Short and to the point:
The long game is "not to be dependant on Russia's moods and wants" with secondaries being the same but for the EU, US and so on.
Long and rambling on tangents every which way:
Westerner's analyses of nations outside the franco-british-german axis or the US cultural sphere (dare we call it US cultural imperalism or is that too much 1970s nostalgia?) always make same mistake:
Analysis is cosmopolitan, no borders, free trade (haha) and free travel and all of the post modern, poststructuralist relativist nonsense wrapped up in the "end of history"-hypothesis (ignoring that the originator of said hypothesis years ago stated he was completely wrong).
The rest of the world still operates on realpolitik. And the west having convinced itself that nationalism, sovereignity, and democracy is evil (yes really, look at how popular power has been transferred away from national parliaments to non-democratic organisations since the eighties) is bewildered again and again when saudi moslems execute homosexuals or african tribes murder eachother over centuries old racial vendettas, or that the current emperor and mandarins of China does what they've always done.
But to capitalism, ethnicity, nationalism, faith and creed and even family are either commodities to be exploited or obstacles to be removed. Just how communism and fascism sees it really: nothing above the state, nothing beyond the state. Just replace state with corporation.
Leaving militarised ethno-nationalism and religion as the only way a people might try and wrest power back.
I think Canada is about to get dark. Way I see it the truckers have been targeted as a prime candidate for Leaf Jan 6 by the powers that be. I expect more police brutality and a slew of illegal detentions and partisan lawfare. It won't be pretty, but the Canadian public reads as complacent enough to allow it.
As for Ukraine, at this point I don't find a full invasion likely. Much cheaper to let the US and Ukraine get egg on their face via inaction, maybe scare the Ukes enough to sign something preventing NATO entry. Putin has time, he's not going anywhere and his position gets more advantagous over time in many ways.
My take on the Ukraine nonsense is that it was a way for the state dept to remind the public why NATO is important. Trump spent 4 years questioning why NATO exists without a Soviet Union, and he was right because nobody had an answer. What happened? Now they have an answer. Like all other bureaucracies, manufacture a crisis to demonstrate the necessity for crisis managers. It really is the MAFIA policy of extortion racketeering.
Has anyone here been to Crimea/Odessa? It looks absolutely gorgeous.
Odessa is a sleazy port town; Ukrainian version of Marseilles. Very clement climate though, and it has a lot of potential. To give an idea, the airbnb me and my pals were staying in was obviously a former whorehouse, and my semi-famous tech bro friends were regularly assaulted by families of roaming gypsies.
Crimea, at least the southern coast from Sevastopol to Feodosia is absolutely glorious (Simferopol is kind of a dump other than a Skythian tower near the train station). Ancient Greek ruins, Genoan castles, abandoned (probably now occupied) submarine bases, checkpoints from where it was all closed cities, amazing food, mountain monasteries, hilarious Soviet era Yalta propaganda, nice people, good food. It was obviously Russian even back in 2010 when I went; all the people hated the Ukraine government and got mad at me when I'd use a couple of Ukranian niceties.
Thanks-Great post. That AirBnB story is good. I don't see travel in our future, but it's fun to look up these places.
We will have to see what happens with litigation and if the emergency nonsense holds up in parliament regarding the funding. The GiveSendGo funds may make it after all. I don't have a lot of faith in the courts, but I have a very limited understanding of them. The convoy people are already planning on litigating though.
I have major doubts the emergency powers will be supported in parliament, but I also don't know the parties well enough.
The border blockings aren't affiliated with the Ottawa convoy, so under scrutiny, they might not get away with seizing the convoy's money. The convoy people are waiting to figure out what will happen to that. The convoy is a registered nonprofit and they coordinated everything in advance. They actually only expected a few hundred trucks but it just grew.
Can't keep doing border blockades though. Gotta focus on Ottawa and keeping it peaceful.
One big issue is how many people support unpersoning them, but given the concessions the politicians have made thus far, I don't think anyone out there cares what the general public thinks. They see that they're getting some representation and having a few small victories. Public opinion is getting more favorable to ending mandates and parliament is responding, that's important.
I think they know they can't arrest or clear out people without severe backlash, I don't think they can even get away with it. If they do anything harsh especially with police there will be more protest. Also, there will be legal backlash if they crack heads and mass arrest. The police forces are in support of the protest from the looks of it, the chief who just resigned was the one trying to take them down. That's why they're doing the bank thing.
I think more people will go to Ottawa no matter what, and there will be more frequent and more populated protests all over until who knows. There are people still waiting to arrive right now who got blocked in Quebec and elsewhere. I'm in Alberta and started going to the rallies after this. Big morale boost. If they get too harsh, reason to protest. If they lose their emergency powers, reason to keep pushing. Here, the key is going and going and going until the premier fully scraps.
Brian Peckford's lawsuit will get a lot more coverage and affect the court of public opinion. The timing of all of this is beneficial. I'm keeping an eye on that. It will be another important moment like this emergency one. If the lawsuit goes well, that will force the mandates out, but also give politicians an excuse to pivot and pretend they cared.
As an expat Canadian for cause, the Freedom Rally has been a rollercoaster of pride and tears and hot hopes. Thought I was over That Place. Patently , I'm not.
Love would have it so.
As a sane person , I must say that Canadians are ever thirsty for centralized
Hivemind direction. That's an eternal truth.
It is Canadians, not sockboy , who is/are Canadas biggest problem
Me too! 100%. I can't leave yet but depending on the way the wind goes I am thinking of it.
I used to think Canada was our sensible neighbor. It's very disturbing to hear what Trudeau is doing to stop dissent. As I said in another Substack comment section, I have a friend who drove to Ottawa and took videos. It all looked peaceful. No burning, looting or assaults. I'm not buying that these people protesting are terrorists. Windsor bowed down to Michigan, letting politicians in the states tell Canada what to do. The very people who despise the police suddenly want the police to do their dirty work.
Ukraine and Russia: I think the US should stay out of it. I'm sick of wars. The next war we have, every politician who wanted it should be required to send all of their adult children to fight it.
I saw a funny meme with a Venn diagram regarding calls for the Canadian military to get rid of the truckers and how the truckers were the ones most likely to have signed up for the military. Same stupidity here with the States, all sorts of venom for anybody who is conservative, yet those are the ones typically being sent to fight wars.
The venom for the working/fighting stock has been working so far, surely it will last?
And in likelihood it will.